Magazines and television are often blamed for portraying an ideal body image that causes people to question their looks and lose confidence in themselves. But what about the role social media plays in moulding attitudes to the way we look?
Kelsey Hibberd, from Southend, remembers her years at secondary school as being miserable. She intentionally kept her Facebook friends to a minimum because she knew they were the ones who wouldn't pick on her.
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It was all about my body and how I looked”
Kelsey Hibberd
"I'd always been tall, and I was a bit podgy too," she says.
"No-one seemed to notice at primary school, but then in Year 7 everyone started pointing at me, noticing things, making me think I was ugly and not special."
She became increasingly conscious of even tiny things such as the shape of her eyebrows and size of her forehead.
"I would have been subject to much more abuse if I'd had more friends on social media," she says.
Kelsey describes the bullying she experienced between the ages of 11 and 16 as "absolutely awful".
"It was all about my body and how I looked," she says.
Kelsey Hibberd Kelsey trains teachers to deal with body confidence issues
She changed her hair colour and stopped eating to try to fit in before she realised that "it was for other people to stop hating on me".
Now, at 20, Kelsey is running a mentoring programme called Loud Education, which goes into schools to talk to pupils and train teachers on how to deal with body confidence issues. It also provides advice on any lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues pupils might have.
As a result, she is well aware of the power of social media. Teenagers can have thousands of "friends" online and that can leave them exposed, she says.
"You put forward your best self, and that can be a bit dangerous, because you naturally compare yourself to others," she says.
Among teenagers, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a number of other messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, are their main means of communicating with each other and the world.
In 2013, two-thirds of teenagers had signed up to the Facebook app, where images are posted and shared millions of times a day.
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Social media networks are the primary way young people communicate and their main channel to the outside world”
Caroline Nokes MP
Never have they known so much about their friends' lives and the way they look.
In 2012, MPs recommended that all schoolchildren should take part in compulsory body image and self-esteem lessons.
An inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image heard evidence that girls as young as five were worrying about their size and their appearance.
Adults were not immune from these negative attitudes either, with about 60% of the public feeling ashamed of the way they looked.
The MPs' report said pressure to look good had pushed up cosmetic surgery rates by nearly 20% since 2008.
MP Caroline Nokes was a member of the parliamentary group which, along with a number of charities, businesses and public bodies, is launching a campaign to change attitudes to body image, called Be Real: Body Confidence for Everyone.
Kelsey Hibberd, from Southend, remembers her years at secondary school as being miserable. She intentionally kept her Facebook friends to a minimum because she knew they were the ones who wouldn't pick on her.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
It was all about my body and how I looked”
Kelsey Hibberd
"I'd always been tall, and I was a bit podgy too," she says.
"No-one seemed to notice at primary school, but then in Year 7 everyone started pointing at me, noticing things, making me think I was ugly and not special."
She became increasingly conscious of even tiny things such as the shape of her eyebrows and size of her forehead.
"I would have been subject to much more abuse if I'd had more friends on social media," she says.
Kelsey describes the bullying she experienced between the ages of 11 and 16 as "absolutely awful".
"It was all about my body and how I looked," she says.
Kelsey Hibberd Kelsey trains teachers to deal with body confidence issues
She changed her hair colour and stopped eating to try to fit in before she realised that "it was for other people to stop hating on me".
Now, at 20, Kelsey is running a mentoring programme called Loud Education, which goes into schools to talk to pupils and train teachers on how to deal with body confidence issues. It also provides advice on any lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues pupils might have.
As a result, she is well aware of the power of social media. Teenagers can have thousands of "friends" online and that can leave them exposed, she says.
"You put forward your best self, and that can be a bit dangerous, because you naturally compare yourself to others," she says.
Among teenagers, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a number of other messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, are their main means of communicating with each other and the world.
In 2013, two-thirds of teenagers had signed up to the Facebook app, where images are posted and shared millions of times a day.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
Social media networks are the primary way young people communicate and their main channel to the outside world”
Caroline Nokes MP
Never have they known so much about their friends' lives and the way they look.
In 2012, MPs recommended that all schoolchildren should take part in compulsory body image and self-esteem lessons.
An inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image heard evidence that girls as young as five were worrying about their size and their appearance.
Adults were not immune from these negative attitudes either, with about 60% of the public feeling ashamed of the way they looked.
The MPs' report said pressure to look good had pushed up cosmetic surgery rates by nearly 20% since 2008.
MP Caroline Nokes was a member of the parliamentary group which, along with a number of charities, businesses and public bodies, is launching a campaign to change attitudes to body image, called Be Real: Body Confidence for Everyone.
